Opuscula Dear Alan, When Did you become An Israeli resident?

U.S. ATTORNEY ALAN DER­SHO­WITZ, in a letter to the leftist HaAretz newspaper, posits that “indicting him (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) endangered Israeli democracy.“
Der­sho­witz chose the left-leaning newspaper to carry an “open letter” to Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit. (http://tinyurl.com/yxlxf64j )
In the letter, Der­sho­witz’ argued that indicting the prime minister put Israeli democracy at risk. “To bring down a duly elected prime minister on the basis of an expansive and unprecedented application of a broad and expandable criminal statute endangers democracy,” he wrote.

 
I HAVE SEVERAL PROBLEMS with Der­sho­witz’ pronouncements.
FIRST, unless I am mistaken, the gentleman is a U.S. citizen residing in the U.S. He also may be an Israeli citizen, but he lives in the U.S.
SECOND, does this legal opinion carry any weight in Israel? Is Der­sho­witz entitled to practice law in Israel?
THIRD AND MOST IMPORTANT, if Israel’s AG bows to Der­sho­witz, won’t THAT have a negative impact on democracy? It seems that Der­sho­witz would put Netanyahu above the law.”
Almost no one in the U.S. is above the law. (The Kennedys and the Clintons are the exceptions; Nixon was not above the law and it cost him his presidency.)
Granted Der­sho­witz and Netanyahu are self-proclaimed “conservatives” and that may be why Der­sho­witz is defending a man who would be prime minister for life if he can just control the voters “one more time.”
Perhaps Der­sho­witz really is a leftist rather than a conservative.
If the AG follows Der­sho­witz’ advice, many who reluctantly support Netanyahu might mark their ballots for another party.
 
In Israel, voters vote by party, not by candidate. The party that wins the most seats in the Knesset usually is allowed to name the prime minister, but there never has a single party controlled the government; a coalition always is required.
For one election, voters were able to vote for the prime minister on a separate ballot; the politicians quickly realized the folly of giving voters this opportunity and the separate ballot for prime minister was history.
 
It seems to me that Der­sho­witz is endowed with one Israeli characteristic: CHUTZPAH.
I hold both U.S. (by birth) and Israeli citizenship.
Because I no longer reside in Israel, I generally refrain from commenting on Israeli politics. I have an opinion — in fact, several — but since I don’t LIVE in Israel, it behooves me to keep them to myself. My relatives who DO live in Israel are smart enough to sort wheat from the chaff. Well, most of them, anyway.
Perhaps if Der­sho­witz relocates to Israel, even to a U.S. ex-pat community, THEN he will have right to suggest that the AG close his eyes to potential crimes by officials high in the government.
Dealing with the accusations against a sitting prime minister is not in any way a “threat to democracy.”
Ignoring potential crimes IS a “threat to democracy.”
Holding off on investigating crime “until after the election,” also is a threat to democracy.
AG Mandleblit is well advised to ignore Der­sho­witz’ letter and advice. Mandleblit is there; Der­sho­witz is not.
Der­sho­witz, who usually defends Israel against attacks from its many foes has, in my opinion, done Israel no favor with his open letter in the leftist press.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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